The Sovereign Military Order of Saint-John (a.k.a. Malta)

This page is mainly interested in the heraldic aspects of the Order.
The historical overview provided here is meant as a framework for a better
understanding of the heraldry. For more information see
the other resources on the Web.

History of the Order

This section provides a brief historical sketch and some information
on the current state of the Order. It owes a lot to H.J.A. Sire: The
Knights of Malta, New Haven, 1994; Yale University Press. I have also
consulted Berthold Waldstein-Wartenberg: Rechtsgeschichte des Malteserordens,
Wien, 1969; Verlag Herold.

The Origins

The origin of the Order lies in a hospice for pilgrims created next
to the Benedictine Abbey of St-Mary of the Latins in Jerusalem. The abbey
was founded ca. 1050 by Amalfitan merchants, and the hospice ca. 1080 by
Brother Gerard, and dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Its servants formed
a lay fraternity under the Augustinian rule. With the conquest of Jerusalem
in 1099 and the establishment of the Crusader states throughout Palestine,
the numbers of pilgrims increased, but the semi-permanent state of war
in the area exposed them to greater dangers. A papal bull of 1113 recognized
the Hospitallers of Saint-John as a monastic order, and soon after, perhaps
under the influence of the Templars (founded in Jerusalem in 1120) the
Hospitallers turned into armed guards, and soon into fighting monks, participating
alongside the Crusaders and holding fortresses as well as hospices across
the Holy Land. This militarization probably occurred in the 1130s. The
structure of the order is unclear in the 12th century, as there seemed
to have been professed fratres alongside lay confratres,
fighting knights in large numbers. Many of them perished in the battles
which led to the fall of Jerusalem in 1189, and the Order fell back to
Margat in the county of Tripoli, and a few years later to Acre.

In 1206 the first Statutes of the Order were issued, which divided the
order between priests or chaplains, knights and sergeants (fighting men
who were commoners). The Mastership (a title copied from the Templars around
1140) was restricted to knights in 1262.

After the fall of Acre in 1291 the Order fell back to Cyprus, then managed
to conquer Rhodes ca. 1310 and inherit the Levantine estates of the Templars
who had been abolished in 1312. They stayed in Rhodes until forced out
by the Turks in 1522, at which time the Emperor and Spanish king Charles
V gave them the island of Malta (1530) where they established themselves
again.

The Order in the Old Regime

The name of the Order, until the 18th century, was Holy Order (or
Religion) of [the Hospital of] Saint-John of Jerusalem, modified in
the late 15th c. by the addition of and of the Sepulchre of Christ
to reflect the incorporation in 1489 of the Order of the Canons of the
Holy Sepulchre (distinct from the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre).

The Grand-Master was made Prince of the Holy German Empire in 1607,
a title which carried with it the rank of Serene Highness; in 1630, the
Pope granted the Grand-Master the rank of Eminence, similar to that of
the cardinals. In 1741, the Grand-Master combined the two into Most
Eminent Highness, a style which is still used today.

In 1301, the Order had organized itself in seven Langues: Provence,
Auvergne, France, Spain, Italy, England and Germany, with a Pilier
at the head of each, holding one of the top six offices of the order: Grand
Commander, Marshal, Hospitaller, Drapier, Admiral, Turcopolier (Germany
did not have an office; the office of Treasurer was never ascribed to a
Langue).

The Langues corresponded to regional groupings of priories, the priories
themselves groupings of commanderies. These consisted in the large number
of estates which had been given over time to the Order (commendatoria
meaning trust, and commendator meaning trustee; the words were later
corrupted into commandery and commander). The commanderies could simply
be estates, or houses where lay people were allowed to live and share some
of the spiritual life of the Order (the corrodaries), or men and women
who did not meet the nobiliary requirements (the confratres or donats),
or where novitiates prepared for their vows. Some houses were convents
of monks and nuns. The Langues were expected to send a set number of Knights
to the main Convent in Rhodes (and later Malta).

The requirements to be a knight were initially to be of knightly family,
but over time they became more stringent: in the 1350s nobility of both
parents, in 1428 nobility of four generations on the father's side, in
1550 nobility of four quarters (all grandparents). The Langues each had
their own requirements which could be stiffer: the French called for 8
quarters, the Italians 200 years in all four lines, the Germans 16 quarters,
etc. In the 17th century nobility of robe or office was excluded.

Knights entered the novitiate, took simple vows after 1 year and solemn
vows after the age of 21. Professed members (be they knights, chaplains
or sergeants) were called "of Justice". The sergeants wore the
"half-cross". Individuals who did not meet the nobiliary requirements
but had otherwise distinguished themselves could be made Knights of Grace
(the painter Caravaggio in 1608), while Knights of Justice who had to renounce
their vows and marry for family obligations could become Knights of Devotion.
The Donats were also entitled to the half-cross. In the 1630s there were
about 1700 knights in the Order.

After 1789

The French Revolution marked the beginning of a new era for the order.
In 1792 the estates of the order within France were confiscated. This confiscation
was extended to their estates in other parts of Europe as French conquests
advanced. In 1798, Bonaparte captured Malta with outrageous ease and expelled
the Order. Some knights who had found refuge in St. Petersburg proclaimed
the married, non-Catholic and non-knight Czar Paul I as their Grand-Master,
and most surviving priories (except in Spain) acknowledged the election
(1798) against the Pope's wishes. The Czar even created an Orthodox priory
in 1799, and bestowed membership most liberally. He died assassinated in
1801. His successor Alexander I declined to assume the grand-mastership
and instead turned to the Pope to name a new grand-master. Pius VII appointed
Giovanni Tommasi in 1803, and the Grand-Master reformed the Convent (the
heart of the order) in Messina. On his death in 1805, a new Grand Master
was elected but the Pope refused to recognize him, and the Mastership fell
in a 70-year hiatus, the Order being governed instead by elected lieutenants.
In the next years, various attempts at reestablishing territorial sovereignty
failed. In 1814, contrary to expectations, Malta remained in British hands
and the order settled in Catania. Various plans to settle in Elba or Greece
floundered. Relations between the Lieutenancy in Messina (and from 1826
in Ferrara) and the knights in France and Spain were severed. Remnants
of the Order were finally offered a home by the Pope in the old Maltese
embassy in Rome in 1831. Starting in the 1860s a number of national associations
sprang up in various European countries, replacing the old system of Langues,
and in 1879 the Pope appointed the existing Lieutenant as Grand Master.
Good relations were maintained with the Italian government which accorded
extra-territoriality to the Palazzo Malta, and finally signed a treaty
modelled on the Lateran Treaty in 1930.

It was in the period between 1798 and 1961 that the Order thus acquired
its present character. In particular, forms of membership which did not
require solemn vows or even proofs of nobility were created or vastly extended:
knights of honor and devotion, conventual chaplains ad honorem, knights
of magistral grace and donats. Among professed knights, a series of three
ranks was created: knight, commander, and bailli-grand-cross. In the category
of knights of honor and devotion, a rank of honorary bailli-grand-cross
was created, as well as a rank of grand-cross among the knights of magistral
grace.

The growth in Knights of Magistral Grace and Donats (the ranks which
do not require nobility) is particularly striking. As a result, in 1961
the total membership stood at 7557, of which less than 1% were professed.

The present status and organization of the order dates from 1961.

Current Status and Organization

(Warning: I have not yet found a clear and detailed explanation of
the various categories and ranks in the Order, so the following is likely
to be inaccurate.)

The Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint-John of Jerusalem,
Rhodes and Malta or Sovereign Order of Malta, whose present
constitution dates from June 24, 1961, consists of three distinct entities
or categories:

A Religious Order: its members, Knights of Justice and
Conventual Chaplains, once they have made solemn vows, are called
professed. They are headed by an elected Grand Master and the Sovereign
Council. There are currently 38 Knights of Justice, with 16 quarters of
nobility, recruited from the Knights of Obedience and the Knights of Honour
and Devotion. Among the Knights of Justice one find Knights Commanders
and Knights Grand Cross. The heads of the Langues were called Baillis.

A Religious Institute of Laymen: its members, the Knights
of Obedience and Donats of Justice, have promised obedience
to their superiors, and submit to religious exercises prescribed by them.
This category was created in 1960, and membership is limited to 500. Some
members are in the Sovereign Council.

An International Order of Chivalry: the Grand Master confers
knighthoods to mostly Catholic men and women around the world. There are
over 10,000 knights and dames, grouped in 39 national associations. There
are three categories, each with ranks of knights, commanders, grand-cross
and bailli. They are, in decreasing order of nobiliary requirement:

Honour and Devotion,

Grace and Devotion (created in 1959),

Magistral Grace, non-nobles; comprises 60% of the total membership
of 11,500 in the order.

There are also similar ranks for chaplains:

Conventual Chaplains ad honorem

Magistral Chaplains (or of Magistral Obedience, or Grace)

Donats of Devotion (3 classes)

The order also confers a decoration since 1916, the Cross of Malta pro
merito melitensi for services to the Order's charitable works. This
decoration has three ranks: Collar (for heads of state), Cross (including
Grand-Cross, Grand-Officer, Commander, Office and Cross of Merit), and
Cross pro piis meritis for members of the clergy (including Grand-Cross
and Cross). The insignia of the decoration is a white cross moline with
a red roundle in its center bearing a white Maltese cross.

The Order is governed by the Grand-Master and the Sovereign Council,
which includes members ex officio and elected members. The Order's four
oficers are the Grand-Commander, the Grand-Chancellor, the Hospitaller
and the Receiver of the Common Treasury.

The Order considers itself to be an internationally recognized sovereign
entity
although without territorial basis. Two of its
possessions, the Palazzo Malta, via Condotti, Rome and the Villa Malta,
also in Rome, are given extra-territorial status by Italy since 1869. The
order also
owns The fortress Sant'Angelo in Malta since 1991. It mints coins, which
do not circulate, but it also prints stamps accepted by 45 national post
offices. The Order enjoys recognition from and has diplomatic relations
with 67 countries (including Spain, Italy, Russia, Austria, Egypt, Brazil),
has "legations" in 6 countries (including France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland),
and is a permanent observer at the UN since 1994.

For all its sovereignty, however, the Order is also an Order of the
Roman Catholic Church, and as such recognizes the authority of the Pope
over the Order's professed members in religious matters. This authority,
finally clearly delineated in the 1950s, had been the source of conflicts,
most notably the during 1951-62 interregnum.

The sovereignty of the order is a complex and controversial matter
examined in greater detail here.

The Order's main activities are religious and charitable (hospital and
medical assistance). The Order is financed through members' fees and donations,
as well as charitable contributions from well-wishers; these sums are mostly
collected and spent by the national associations.

Heraldry of the Order

The Order

Modern arms of the Order, from a panel in the palace of the Grand Masters, Rhodes.

The arms of the Order are Gules a cross argent. The full arms
show the shield surrounded by a chaplet and placed over a cross of Malta,
all within a mantle and surmounted by a closed crown. In 1776, when the
(religious) order of Saint-Antoine in France was united with Malta, a double-headed
eagle displayed holding in each beak a Tau was added behind the shield;
the eagle had been granted to Saint-Antoine by Maximilian I. The eagle
appears on 18th century coins from Malta
(see
a silver coin of 1790) but disappeared in the 19th century.

The arms of the Grand-Master Pinto de Fonseca (1742-73), from
a gold coin. Notice the closed crown and the Baroque, asymmetric shape
of the shield.

Grand Masters

The head of the order was traditionally called Magister Hospitalis
Sanctis Johannis Hierosolym (master of the hospital of Saint John of
Jerusalem), although on their
seals they are only called custos until they left Jerusalem in 1291.
The name of the order lengthened to "Hospital of Saint
John of Jerusalem and Acre", then "Jerusalem, Acre and Rhodes" after
the conquest of that island in 1308. With that conquest came sovereignty,
(immediately indicated by the style "by the Grace of God" for
the Master) and among other rights that to coin money. The order minted
coins more or less continuously until 1798 and the legends and figures
reflect changing styles (see Mémoires Numismatiques de l'Ordre
de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem, by Edouard-Henri Furse; Rome, 1885).

The arms of the Master first appear on the obverse of coins with Roger
de Pins (ca. 1360). They appear on the obverse, which shows the grand-master
wearing a cape with a cross, kneeling before a reliquary of the True Cross.
The shield is behind him on the right of the coin. The reverse of the Order's
gigliati coins shows a cross flory, rather similar to that on French
gold coins of the time. The mention of Acre disappears under Philippe de Nalhac
(1396-1421); the title of "Grand Master" first appears under
his successor Antoine Fluvian ("grammastro di Rodi" in Italian
on an imitation of a Venetian sequin; cf. the title given to Pierre
d'Aubusson on the gate of Saint Athanasios, Rhodes: "Rhodiorum Magnus Magister").
In a letter sent in 1423 by Venice to the Grand Master to express displeasure
at the minting of imitation Venetian ducats, he is styled "reverendissimus dominus
Magister Rodi" (cited in Papadopoli: Le Monete di Venezia, 1912; vol. 1, p. 250).

Grand-Masters quarter their arms
with those of the order ( Gules a cross argent) since Philibert de
Nalhac. With Jean de La Valette the Maltese cross is first
shown on the reverse of some coins. The distinctive shape of the Maltese cross
seems to date from the 16th century. Miniature illustrations of Caoursin's
history of the siege of 1480 show the Grand Master's cape with a cross that
is not yet of the classic shape; the arms of the cross are split and the
ends of the arms taper out. In 1581, a coronet was added above
the arms of the grand-master: a row of pearls, later intermingled with
leaves, and then (under Adrien de Wignacourt) only leaves. In 1630 the
Grand-Master was given by the pope the precedence of a cardinal and the
style of "Most Eminent Highness". The closed crown
of sovereignty was first used in 1741. At the same time, the arms of the
order itself appear in their modern form on the coins: the shield,
the Maltese cross behind it, the chaplet around it and the closed crown.
Since the 18th century, a princely mantle has been placed behind the arms.
Two Grand Masters who were made cardinals, Pierre d'Aubusson and Hugo Loubenx
de Verdala, and displayed the cardinal's hat over their arms.

Bailliffs

Arms of Philippe de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam as bailli; Rhodes.

Bailliffs (or Baillis) were the heads of the Tongues and holders of the
great offices of the order. Since the 15th century they bear a chief
with the arms of the order. Miniatures in Caoursin's manuscript show
the Baillis in session around the Grand Master, each holding a string of
beads with a fiocco at the end; also, the tombstone of the French Bailli
Montmirel in the Archaeological Museum, Rhodes, shows two such strings
placed on both sides of his coat of arms.

Insignia

The insignia comes in four varieties:

A white Maltese cross surmounted by a closed crown and above it by
a trophy of armour and flags with an escutcheon of the Order in the center;
for Knights of Justice, Obedience and Honour and Devotion

A white Maltese cross surmounted by a closed crown and above it an
escutcheon of the Order with an antique helmet and two swords per saltire
above it; for Knights of Grace and Devotion

A white Maltese cross surmounted by a closed crown and above it a golden
tie with an escutcheon of the Order in the middle: for Knights of Magistral
Grace, Donats of Justice, Chaplains ad honorem, Donats of Devotion 1st
class

A white Maltese cross surmounted by a closed crown: for Chaplains of
Magistral Grace, Donats of Devotion 2d and 3d class.

Portrait of a commander of the Order of Malta, by Jean-Marc Nattier.
(Source: France, Ministère de la Culture, base de données
Joconde).

Only the professed members (and perhaps the Knights and Chaplains of
Obedience as well) are entitled to place a cross of Malta behind their
arms. Knights Commanders also surround their shield with the chaplet from
which hangs their insignia. Baillis quarter their arms with those of the
order. Professed Chaplains surround their shield with a chaplet from which
hangs their insignia. Professed knights have the full cross hanging from
a black ribbon. The non-professed categories of knights have their insignia
hanging from a black ribbon (with no cross behind the shield), but Knights
Grand-Cross or Bailiffs within each class edge the ribbon with gold and
add a chief with the arms of the Order (chef de la religion) to
their coat.

Ecclesiastics who are members of the Order are exempted from the prohibition
on display of exterior ornaments.